Without so much as a thought, the ball of lightning streaked from Arawn's hand and slammed into one of the stone tiles of the floor. It exploded in a cloud of dust, and everyone jolted at the blast, but no other damage could be seen.
This is getting more than a little crazy. The more I do, the easier this all gets. It's all starting to make a strange kind of sense now, too,
he thought.
I really have to get Amevina to teach me magic. Maybe it'll help me understand more of what I'm doing
. Arawn tossed the elf onto his face and hovered over the frightened man.
No one moved, no one spoke, no one even knew what to think. It was the most singularly terrifying, bizarre, and confusing event they had ever witnessed. When the Lady found her voice, she placed a tentative hand on Arawn's shoulder. When she spoke, her voice was as soft and soothing as freshly spun silk.
"Young one, since my husband's ill-conceived outburst began, my daughter has explained that you are not on our world of your own free will. I cannot imagine the stress and discomfort you must feel from being in such unfamiliar surroundings. For that, I can forgive this outburst as you are ignorant of our laws, however, please restrain yourself in the future. Things may not be so simple to deal with if there is a next time."
Arawn nodded and faced her. "I... thank you. I apologize."
"You will also be relieved to know that our laws prevent us from interfering with the courtship of our children. My husband and I may have had other hopes and desires for her, but that is where it will end. If you would allow me to speak with my daughter and husband for a few moments, we will allow you all to get cleaned up and prepare a good meal for you afterward."
Arawn nodded and walked outside without another word. He didn't even have to ask anyone to move, everyone made certain that they were not in his way. As he wandered through the park, he found a spot that looked comfortable for meditation and decided to experiment with what he remembered of psychic shields from his pagan books back on Earth.
He first focused his consciousness on the area where his third eye was supposed to be. When he pushed outward from the spot in an attempt to focus his energies into a bubble, he felt a tug in the pit of his stomach. He willed the release of whatever might be causing the tug and felt a surge of power upward that stopped in his heart region. He thought his pulse might spike, but instead of speed it gained power. No longer simply a function of his survival, his heart now beat with force and authority. Again, there was another tug. He repeated the release and the power surged upward again, only magnified. When it slammed into the next block, which felt like it was in the center of his esophagus, it caused the muscles to twitch and awkward sensations pulsed within the nerve endings of his throat.
Oh shit! My gag reflex,
he thought! He tried the release a third time, and it did not work! He began to panic and opened his mouth to groan, but was shocked at the sound which replaced it. A rich, deep thrum resonated from his throat that he found very reminiscent of Tibetan Throat-singing. Even more, the resonance stilled the reaction in his throat and triggered the release itself. The energy surged up harder than before, slammed into his third eye and snapped his head back. At the same time, a translucent bubble of pearlescent blue energy formed around him and pulsed slowly in time with the resonance of the deep note that rang out from his throat. By this point, Arawn had lost all concept of time and could only use his faculties to process the sensations and power that threatened to overwhelm him.
*********
"I must admit, my child," Cille'rinia told her daughter as they exited the hall, "I couldn't say this in front of everyone, but your human handled your father brilliantly. His prejudice has gotten worse since your capture at the hands of the Vaszul. We will continue to take in refugees, but the news of spy-assassins will not endear young Arawn to my husband."
"I know, mother, but...", they were both distracted by a deep humming sound that had begun to emanate from somewhere in the park, "... what is that noise?"
Cille'rinia confessed her ignorance and the two set out in search of the source. What they found was far from anything they might have expected.
When they had located the source, what they found was a crowd of curious people that had encircled something was now obscured by the number of onlookers. They pushed their way through and were surprised to find Arawn, sat cross-legged in meditation with his back to them. He was surrounded by a blue bubble of energy that pulsated in resonance with the hum...
which came from him!
Amevina called his name, but nothing happened and his head snapped back and the hum, now a rumbling
thrum
, grew louder. She could barely make out his expression, he was... amazed.
Everything around them became a flurry of activity as Arawn remained in the bubble. Guards and mages were called in to begin study of this phenomena and try to ascertain if it posed a threat. Amevina refused to abandon him when they tried to get her to back away, but the rest of the crowd gave no such complaints when the human lifted his head back upright and the bubble flared bright.
*********
Inside the bubble, Arawn was lost as to what was happening and had resigned himself to the inevitability of it all. Calm washed over him and he redoubled his focus. The energy surged again into a point just above the top of his head, formed a gleaming white ball as bright as a sun, then faded to a simple point of light as the energy redirected and flowed back downward. It passed through two more points that flared orange and red, respectively. When the energy continued to flow through the red point and out of his body, Arawn drew a deep breath, then something changed. A fire erupted in the base of his spine and crept upward at a snail's pace. He found his senses washed away in a flood of every imaginable sensation, all amplified to indescribable proportions. Arawn made a valiant effort, but he could not withhold the scream that followed.
*********
Both mother and daughter could only look on in fear and confusion. They remained where they had been stood behind him, and the situation continued to escalate after Arawn's head lifted back up. Shortly after the bubble flared a bright pearlescent blue, it dimmed and grew opaque, and all that could be seen were seven glows of color in a vertical line that illuminated Arawn's silhouette. At the top and just above the outline of his head was a violet glow... almost lavender, next was a rich indigo, followed by blue, then green, yellow, orange, and red. A few among the audience screamed when the orb became almost completely transparent and a serpent made of pure flames was shunted from Arawn's back, just a few inches above the base of his spine. The fiery creature unwrapped itself from it's three layered stack and hissed at the onlookers, which drew a few screams, but did not attempt to pass through the orb.
Amevina could only look on in horror as the serpent turned back to Rawn and burrowed into the tip of his tailbone. The guards had gotten the crowd back to a safe distance, and the requested mages had all reached the conclusion that the only potential threat to anyone was to Arawn himself. They had no idea what was happening beyond the notion that he was having some sort of bodily reaction to an unknown arcane force that had entered his body, based on Amevina's explanation of how he called himself
more in every way he could think to test
. When he began to scream, everyone but Amevina and Cille'rinia backed further away.
That was two hours ago, and Amevina could no longer look as the serpent continued its path into her lover, into his very spine, and upward. Her poor man had long since screamed himself hoarse. Each time the serpent passed through the heart of a colored region, it would flare bright and coalesce into a swirling maelstrom of energy that crackled with raw power. It had finally reached the top... it's journey complete, and when the energy flared violet, the orb around Rawn vanished and he screamed one last time with a voice that should have been long gone. His eyes rolled back in their sockets, the energy faded, and he drew a ragged breath as he struggled to calm his body from all the exertion.
No one expected it when he slapped his hands onto his knees and stood up. Arawn slowly turned around until he spotted Amevina and her mother. He focused on them with all the labored precision of a drunk in full-stupor.
"Hey Vee-baby!" He staggered forward, one measured step at a time, and rubbed at his eyes. Then his visage grew pained and fearful. "Baby girl, I... d... I don't understand. What's hap... happening... to me," Arawn whimpered.
Arawn reached out to her and attempted to close the distance, but only managed a few unsteady steps before he collapsed onto his face. Amevina dashed to his side and turned him over, though he was unconscious, he still drew breath. Amevina called for guards to rush him to the healer and she, her mother, Vorsah, Ke'line, and Grok all hurried behind them as they carried him away.
*********
Arawn awoke flat on his back. Every last component of his body that he could think to name and plenty that he could not, ached. When he finally managed to bring his eyes into focus, he found that he lay on a white floor, surrounded by white as far as the eye could see in all other directions. There were no ceilings, doors, or even walls, just neverending sterile white. He rose to his feet, and everywhere he walked it was the same; no end, just more white. After a few moments, he heard footsteps behind him and spun to face the new arrival. Arawn saw only a silhouette as it approached.
"Who are you," he shouted.
